Please fill out the information below completely and accurately. Items marked with an asterisk (*) are required. Warning: may cause suicide

Dear Job Websites-

I am seeking new employment. However, whenever I see a position that looks exciting, for which I have the proper skill set and associated experience, and one that I would ultimately want to apply for, I face something called the “employer’s application.”

The gauntlet begins: I am thrown into a round of mindless input of information readily available on my resume: including contact information, previous work experience, job descriptions, and much more. What’s the point of the resume if I need to fill out these blank boxes? Or better phrased, why do I need to put in information that’s already available on my resume? If I get through this level (gulp), I see what awaits me on the next round: a 30 minute survey of behavioral interview questions to quantify my interpersonal, organizational, and leadership qualities. Apparently, they want to know if I “agree, disagree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or not applicable.” (double gulp)

The unemployment rate recently dropped to 9%. Unfortunately, that’s not because more companies are hiring. In fact, in January, the private sector only added 36,000 jobs. The number has gone down because people have given up looking for work. The government doesn’t consider you “unemployed,” if you’re aren’t looking for work. To be unemployed, involves two requirements 1) not have a job and 2) be looking for a job. You don’t count if you’ve given up.

Over 15 million people lost their jobs during the recession, and many have been out of work for longer than 6 months. Some have been unemployed for a year, some even two years. Not only do these people face a challenging job market, where there are simply not enough jobs to go around and too many qualified people to fill them, but the insult to injury, is the ‘dark abyss’ of the employer job application.

Each of these generic applications can take upwards of 20-30 minutes. Factor in another 30 minute assessment, fine-tuning cover letters, and the actual original job search, and you get an unwieldy amount of time spent on applying to even ONE job. My question is: why? Why do companies; large, global, goliath, major institutions of profit, partake in something that is so inefficient, wasteful, annoying, and frustrating?

My first possible explanation is they consider it a “barrier to entry.” In other words, if you really want this job, you’ll sit through the mindless input, possibly followed by a 30 minute round of behavioral questions, just to be considered. That’s the shocker. You could spend all of this time and energy, to submit an application, when the employer knows very well they would never hire you based off a 10 second glance of your resume. So is their goal to reduce the number of applications?

I’ve attempted to send my resume to real people, using various networking and research vehicles online: LinkedIn, google searches, etc. My hope is to circumvent the wasteful time suck that is the employer job website application. The response is typical, “thank you for forwarding your resume to me, however, we can not consider applicants without ……”

At that moment, I hear a shrill scream from inside my mind. The job application on the company website is UNAVOIDABLE. It seems the lengthy application may have something to do with documenting equal opportunity employment screening.

It can not go on like this. Very capable workers have given up hope of finding a job and I can promise you that this senseless application process is a major part of it. We need to innovate here and change the status quo. Attention Entrepreneurs: the market has a need and you can fill it. If companies insist on having information in piecemeal format, we can set up a main online company that provides this format to companies. Consider what Careerbuilder or Monster do, and make it the standard.

So, if they insist on knowing the dates I worked at TPT, or how much I got paid, they can have it in its own little box for perusal. In other words, when I apply and send my resume, I can also send a form that gives them their desired knowledge of my work past, but without the manual input required for EACH website. Now, I can apply to 100 jobs a day, versus 10. Life is a game of numbers and this would increase the chances of garnering employment, of reducing stress and aggravation, and simply be more efficient and simple.

Personally, in the interlude, I have decided NOT to apply to any job that requires a job application. If a company doesn’t value my time and energy, I can not take the time or energy to apply.

I went to college. I can input information into a box if asked and if needed. And I can promise that the information will be accurate. But doing it 10x a day, 7x a day, for an unclear amount of time, I will not. I repeat I went to college. I know how to think and make choices for myself. I know that problems are often complex and unemployment is a major problem now. We can talk about stimulus, tax cuts, work programs, entitlements, unemployment benefits, aggregate demand, consumer confidence, and much more. But, because I went to college, I also know sometimes the simplest solution is often the right one. At this point, I can only ask, “what if there were no asterisks?”

Thank you-
Job Seeker